


Worlds Without

by sigye



Category: Korean Actor RPF, Super Junior
Genre: Gen, M/M, aka alternate universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:52:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4554915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sigye/pseuds/sigye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of alternate universes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spirit Me Away

**Author's Note:**

> Written to L'Arc~en~Ciel's 'Spirit Dreams Inside'.

They first meet in a church, which is fairly odd for one of Kijoon’s kind. (Admittedly Kijoon himself tends to favor them, feeling that if someone is going to dedicate one’s entire livelihood to exterminating his kind, among other things, then that someone should be prepared to be robbed of their savings. It’s part self-defense anyway, because if they have no funds they won’t be able to pose any trouble to him.)

At any rate, it’s a normal night when he makes his way into the church. It’s in the typical Gothic style, all vault ceilings and keystones. Not as gloriously decorated as some tend to be, but fancy enough to satisfy Kijoon’s tastes. He can’t help but admire how much work has gone into it — until he sees a person sitting in the nave of the church.

Whoever it is seems absorbed in their book until they drawl out, “I’ve been waiting. It’s been about time something interesting’s happened, and a visit from a vampire certainly counts.”

Well, if he’s already been identified, there’s not much point to lying. There aren’t any stakes coming his way either, so Kijoon just blinks, mildly curious. “What are you doing here? I thought it would be deserted.”

The young man there shrugs, closing his book — his Bible? — and pushing it away. “I’m friends with the pastor’s son, but hell if he isn’t the biggest hypocrite I know. Every other day he attends sermons about how being unnatural is a sin, but he’s still always making plays at me.”

Before Kijoon can ask which part of that statement was offensive, he gets his answer. “Perhaps my interests lie that way, but that’s no excuse for anyone to pursue me so infuriatingly — especially while being this big an ass. So I punched him.” Long, elegant fingers wave themselves in Kijoon’s direction, decorated with healing bruises and superficial cuts.

Kijoon can’t help it — his mouth quirks. “Are you going to punch me too?”

The human seems surprised. “Of course not, you seem perfectly nice. And you haven’t done anything to me. In fact...can I come with you?”

Now he waves the uninjured hand too, possibly sensing an outburst. “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to convince you into letting me join your order of the eternally damned. I just want some adventure, to get out of this town. My name is Kyuhyun.”

Despite the flippancy, Kijoon can see the shadows crossing his young face. It’s not like it would be a permanent arrangement. Kyuhyun would probably get tired in a day or two, and he could just drop him off before continuing on his way.

“Well...don’t you want to bring your Bible?” he suggests awkwardly, off-balance.

Kyuhyun laughs. “That? That’s not the Bible, that’s Faust,” he says cheerily. “I’ll leave it; it’ll give them a kick to see what I’ve been doing this past week. Well, let’s go. I hope you don’t mind garlic, it’s my favorite seasoning.”


	2. Forget-Me-Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Even if we go back to that time, we would probably end up the same way._   
>  _If it was the us of right now, would we have been different?_   
>  _That beautiful flower-like time, would it not have withered like this?_   
>  _Would it not have ended like this?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because they're a type of perennial.

It comes up because they somehow ended up at the restaurant where Changmin’s youngest sister had the worst date of her life.

Kyuhyun knows about it because he’d been at Changmin’s parents’ house, helping them set up a new surrond sound audio system and then testing it out with Changmin later with a gaming marathon. They’d both been treated to a rant worthy of the stage about how spectacularly horrendous the evening had been and how she would never consider going on a blind date again, not after this experience, regaling them for what seemed like twenty minutes straight without taking a single breath.

At any rate, Seungwoo’s eyes crinkle up when he smiles, and he get even cuter. Kyuhyun feels a little flush of warmth at it and smiles down at his drink.

“I don’t think anything could top that,” Seungwoo laughs, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “Oh, except wait, I think I actually can! A year or so ago I was here with someone else,” he waves his hand to indicate the Italian place they’re at.

“Anyway -- no, don’t worry, I’m not going to start ranting about him or anything!” Seungwoo reassures him, and the look on his face is so open and gently amused that Kyuhyun smiles in return. “He was a great person, really, and we might have hit it off -- not that I’m not glad we didn’t, considering I got to meet you,” he teases.

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes, but still shoots a small smile over to Seungwoo to assure him that he’s not taking it too seriously, gesturing for him to get on with it.

“Anyway, like I was saying, Kijoon-hyung was great. We might even have been great for each other, except well... it turns out he and my noona were together in college. When he realized that I was her younger brother, it kind of put a damper on the evening,” Seungwoo chuckles, shaking his head.

It’s a good thing he’s not looking up, Kyuhyun thinks fervently, because there’s no telling what his face looks like. It really is such a small world. What’s the protocol when your current date mentions how he’s gone out with one of your exes?

Not just any ex either, a serious one. One that still hurts a little to think about.

Kyuhyun manages to adjust his expression by the time Seungwoo looks back at him and he puts everything else out of his mind. Seungwoo doesn’t deserve being treated that way.

That might’ve been it for ruminating on that particular ex that day, but by fate or by coincidence, it doesn’t quite pan out like that. Later that evening Kyuhyun finds himself entering an art exhibition put on by one of his favorite former professors. He'd taught music, but he dabbled in painting and sculpting on the side, and he'd finally put all his works together to be shown at once.

Kyuhyun grabs a glass of champagne and goes over to say hello to some others. It’s not long before he sees Lee Gunmyung heading towards another room in the gallery, so he follows him and catches up just in time to see him join Shin Sungwoo and Kim Publae.

Smiling, Kyuhyun greets them and joins the conversation. It’s simple until when Sungwoo suddenly says “Junsangie, you’ve finally come to say hello to us!”.

Kyuhyun joins the others in turning to greet the man of the hour when the bottom suddenly drops out of his stomach. Because walking next to him is Um Kijoon.

For Kyuhyun, the next few minutes pass in a blur of forced cheer until the moment he’s been -- dreading? Anticipating? comes around. Their little knot of people starts to disperse, either to the front of the room where there’s a little stage set up or off to talk to others. Kijoon and Kyuhyun are left alone.

Kyuhyun feels self-conscious, as awkward as he was the first time he met Kijoon (when he’d nearly walked into a tree), but he screws up his courage and looks Kijoon straight in the eye.

“When you were coming over, did I hear that right? Someone really mistook you for Junsang-hyung? That still happens?” he asks, looking pointedly at the glasses and stubble on Kijoon’s face, neither of which Junsang has. He doesn’t recognize the glasses, they must be -- well, if not new then at least less than three years old.

The watch flashing up from Kijoon’s wrist is familiar though, and he has to suddenly swallow a lump in his throat.

“Yes, well,” Kijoon mutters, picking at the watch -- a gift, Kyuhyun can still remember wrapping it up -- absently. “It’s been quite a while since she’s seen either me or Junsang-hyung, she’s been working abroad. And, well...it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, too.”

Kyuhyun gulps at the straightforward way Kijoon approaches the topic. It looks like that hasn’t changed, and actually, a part of him appreciates it. Kijoon’s no-nonsense manner had always been something he admired about the older man, something part of him had always wanted to emulate to an extent.

“Yes, it’s been, what, three years now? How have you been, hyu -- how have you been?”

Kyuhyun catches himself and feels an uncomfortable blush warming his neck and the tips of his ears. But he’s oddly gratified when Kijoon also looks a little uneasy, a little off-balance at the hastily-retracted epithet. A tiny frown tugs his eyebrows together for a moment.

Kyuhyun resists the urge to look whether his lips are pressing together like they used to whenever Kijoon was upset about something and steadfastly casts his eyes around the room, taking a quick sip of his drink in an attempt to hide his discomfiture.

Evidently Kijoon decides to let it go, which Kyuhyun is glad for. They manage to catch up, and Kijoon is perfectly polite. (Kyuhyun is incredibly glad for that, relieved in the face of the seeming lack of hard feelings. If part of him stings at the slightly-aloof treatment, well, he shoves it down. After all, it’s his fault they’re like this.)

Any distance there might have been between them vanishes though, halfway through Junsang’s speech when Kijoon leans in and murmurs that “we really need his wife in here to tell him to shut up, you know he likes when she orders him around.”

Kyuhyun quickly turns a laugh into a cough, covering his mouth with his empty hand and reflexively looking sidelong to catch Kijoon’s gaze. Their eyes meet for a moment of shared mirth -- before they simultaneously realize what they’re doing and look away, affecting interest in the stage where Junsang is still pontificating.

That more then anything rattles Kyuhyun. That they’d fallen back into that natural camaraderie so easily, within minutes of seeing each other again... he remembers the dozens of times in the past where the same thing had happened, the two of them trading quips under their breaths. Once it had gotten to the point that they’d been asked firmly to step outside, since they’d been silently laughing so hard that they’d both teared up.

A half-smile finds its way to Kyuhyun’s mouth at the memory. They’d been escorted out and as soon as the door had closed behind them, they’d collapsed into laughter again, leaning on each other for support. He’s fairly sure that they looked positively ridiculous -- two grown men in suits, giggling all over each other like a pair of schoolchildren.

Applause startles him out of his reminiscing, and he joins in a beat late. Kijoon does as well, the both of them apparently having been so caught up in thought that they both missed the cue.

Kyuhyun thinks of the Kijoon from his thoughts and can’t help but wonder if the Kijoon standing next to him had been thinking about that day too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of Davichi's 'To You'.


	3. Goldfinger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undercover work doesn't quite go according to plan.

It’s a normal day. Kyuhyun’s posted in the back, monitoring the illegal casino next door, and Kijoon’s complaining yet again about HQ being in a nail salon, when a customer walks in.

Mido’s working recon today, so it’s Jihye at the desk. Jihye who still has a cast on her arm, effectively putting her out of commission.

Immediately Kyuhyun and Kijoon stare at each other.

Kyuhyun tries to get out of it. “I’m no good at doing nails, you know that! I’m better at all the face stuff, you do it for once!”

Kijoon mutely raises his left hand and displays his nails in reply. There’s a miniature reproduction of Monet’s Nympheas on his last two fingers and assorted bits from Degas on his thumb and index finger. His middle finger is adorned with a precise overlay of gold -- polish, glitter, and jewels, all impeccably arranged.

“Kyuhyun, we all know you’re lying. Just get out there and service her.” Seungwoo says tiredly, crackly over the speakerphone. Kijoon almost cheers in triumph. He doesn’t; he’s too disciplined for that during a mission, but his eyes positively sparkle with glee. He reminds himself to buy Seungwoo a drink the next time they’re off-duty together.

Alright then. Well, Kyuhyun can at least have some fun while he’s at it.

“Welcome!” he says, stepping out and beaming at the lady. “I’m Mooyoung, I’ll be taking care of you today.”

Leading her to a table, he indicates the STUDENT nametag he has on. “Now, usually my supervisor would be here to monitor, but he’s, ah, indisposed, shall we say. There was an unfortunate incident that had to do with something getting stuck in an rather sensitive area...”

Jihye turns away to hide a laugh as Kijoon grinds his teeth together.

He glares until Kyuhyun finishes and comes back to the office, grin firmly in place. He kind of wants to smack it off.

He settles for leaning in and murmuring, “I’ve no idea where you got your intel, but you’re obviously mistaken since I’ve never had problems with that. I should show you sometime,” he finishes, walking out to confer with Jihye.

That would be the end of it, except for the tell-tale sound of a key in his door later that night.

“What are you doing here?”

“Please,” Kyuhyun scoffs, closing the door. “You gave me a standing invitation the first day we were posted together. You painted ‘come over anytime’ on my nails in the most garish shade of pink. Then hid all the polish remover for the rest of the week.”

"The fact that I let you back into my bed is the proof that I've hit rock bottom,” Kijoon mutters, but despite his words he’s moving over like he does almost every night, holding up the covers.

Kyuhyun slips in and smiles brightly at him, already pulling in close. “Grumble later,” he suggests. “Don’t you have some things to go over with me? I’m waiting to be impressed.”


	4. Hedge: Prelude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first fumbling moments in Monte Carlo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the start of my take on a _Rebecca_ AU.

“Here, Monsieur. Your drink.”

He lifts the glass to his lips and drinks in a rich, fizzing mouthful, holding it in his mouth as he holds the glass in front of his face, hiding the way his tongue slips out to pick up the leftover traces on his lips after swallowing, savoring the tartness.

It is rather not strong enough for his taste, he thinks with a mild twist of disdain, but it will have to do while he waits.

Idly, he pulls a pack of cards out and starts shuffling.

They’re not new and yet still not shabby, high-quality enough that though they’ve withstood countless hands fingering them, drawing and dropping them, they manage to maintain their dignity. The bold colors on the back have retained most of their glossy glory; gone are the days of the past where a younger version of himself would hunch over a corner table with pen and ink, furtively trying to bring life back into fading designs.

His fingers glide easily over their smooth surfaces until he hears the commissionaire move to open the door, greeting some newly-returned patron. He waits, listening; and ah yes, this is him. Biding his time, he fans the cards out delicately until the new arrival passes by.

“Mr. de Winter. It’s good to see you again.”

ㅡ

There’s a low intake of breath that would have been called a gasp in any lesser man.

Kyuhyun feels triumph curling hot in his chest, and presses his advantage. “Would you do me the favor of playing a hand or two? I’m afraid I’ve been letting my skills get rusty.”

That lovely face turns; the view of well-sculpted profile gives way to direct eye contact, granting Kyuhyun one of his most-secret desires.

“I had heard that you were not the most well-versed at cards.”

Kyuhyun grins openly, honesty flowing forth.

“Certainly that is what you will have heard,” he says with easy grace. “Considering that that is the illusion I have endeavored to create for my poor employer’s sake. You see, in the past he would often have me join their games. Ostensibly it was an action stemming from the good of his heart, pulling me into the fold as it were, but before each game he would invariably attempt to coach me in various practices that would result in his victory. He was, you see,” Kyuhyun drops his voice to a low murmur, getting the other man to (perhaps not entirely willingly) lean in so as to hear the rest, “unforgivably bad at counting cards.”

He shrugs. “And that’s that. Admittedly I chafed at that -- only being allowed to participate as a clumsily-used secret weapon, well, it wasn’t to my liking. He mistook my willful botching of the games as lack of skill, and ever since then has been loudly discouraging any who might be interested in trying their hand against me.”

It’s at this point that his smile sharpens a little. “So. Would you like to take your chance?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure what this consists of other than the probable abuse of em dashes. —, I'm sorry.


End file.
